"He brought stability, a new way of working, a new way of thinking and I feel everybody has brought into that, which is the most important thing."

Middlesbrough moved into the third round of the League Cup with a 3-1 win over Preston North End on Tuesday and and are just one point adrift of McClaren's highly rated Rams in seventh spot in the Championship table.

Middlesbrough's start to the 2014-15 season

9 Aug: Win 2-0 v Birmingham City (H) Championship

12 Aug: Win 3-0 v Oldham Athletic (A) League Cup

16 Aug: Loss 1-0 v Leeds United (A) Championship

19 Aug: Win 2-1 v Bolton (A) Championship

23 Aug: Loss 3-2 v Sheffield Wednesday (H) Championship

26 Aug: Win 3-1 v Preston (H) League Cup

Karanka succeeded Tony Mowbray at Boro with the side 16th in the Championship table in November and guided them to a 12th-place finish by claiming 24 points from a possible 33 to end the season.

The 40-year-old former Real Madrid assistant boss is in his first managerial role, an echo of McClaren's status when he moved to the Riverside after leaving his role as Sir Alex Ferguson's number two at Manchester United.